They are selling bucketfuls of the black stuff, check your gas prices...if anything they may get to 3rd behind China, but that's if they include all of those rusting hulks in the Caspian and along the Arctic.

So yeah, seeing is believing for this motley crew...sounds more like Putin chest thumping more then anything else, in response to some of the Baltic states grumbling and Poland and Checkoslovakia's recent interest in all things US of A...

It's true they could get there but they need to do a lot before then to make it work. Personnel are equally as important and as it stands they've not been too good at looking after that particular asset lately.

It does seem that Putin is trying to reinstate the "old" Russia. Shades of A Hitler trying to reinstate the German Reich? In a totalitarian State, the human resources (ugh!) do as they are told. A building programme would certainly boost their, albeit hollow, economy.

Rest assured that it will be inconvenient for our Parliament to acknowledge it and response in kind will be sod all. After all, the USA is our bestest friend in the whole world and, as "Europeans", we can all hide behind each other.

If we are talking size and we all know size counts, then in 1975 the USSR not Russia by far had the 2nd largest navy certainly bigger that all the European NATO navies put together.

Now it is the Russian Federated States and much reduced from its Cold War status as many ships etc went to non federated states. I think they are now chasing the Chinese Navy. In 2004

SSBN 16
SSN 23
SSK 13
CV 1
CGN 1
CG 4
DD 16
FF 43
Corvettes 38

Only China was larger and France ran Russia a close second. By then on a hull count RN were in the second division.

Figures taken from Jane's Fighting ships 1975 and 2004

I make no comment on the efficiency or operational capabilities of the Russian Navy as I do not know. I am a believer that reasonable hulls in the water with a core of trained crews are better than a few large (pretty) hulls which lack punch and reduce the trained core. The MOD as before WW2 seem to forget we are an Island that needs to support 50,000,000 people as well as fight a war.

Of course if the numbers reach a point where they are so vastly superior to the target then they can inflict some serious damage. You can't fight everyone and we have a bad habit of sending our units out in small or single numbers.

Regarding POLs comment about Putin and a possible future for Russia? Well they're feeling pretty damaged these days and many are by now quite nostalgic about the glory days so I wouldn't write off the possibility of the sleeping bear awakening with a size ten hangover.